PHYSICIANS OPINIONS ON THE DELIVERY OF MAMMOGRAPHIC SCREENING SERVICES - IMMEDIATE INTERPRETATION VERSUS DOUBLE READING

OBJECTIVE. Mammographic services are delivered in many ways. Emphasis has been placed on providing women with immediate reports of their scr eening mammograms. We believe that double reading of mammograms is mor e important than an immediate report, We sought to determine physician s' attitudes toward this issue and if education affects their opinions . MATERIALS AND METHODS. Questionnaires were mailed to 1000 physicians in Massachusetts who were randomly selected from 16,000 members of th e state medical society, The questionnaire had four sections, of which two were pertinent to this subject. The first section collected gener al information on the physician's practice and experience, The second section described two common delivery systems for mammographic screeni ng services and asked physicians to choose the delivery system that wo uld most benefit their patients. RESULTS. Of the 1000 physicians, 294 returned the questionnaire, giving a response rate of 29%. Of these, 1 6 physicians returned blank surveys, leaving 278 for analysis. Two hun dred forty-nine (90%) valued off-site, delayed interpretation of mammo graphic screening for their patients over on-site reading by a single radiologist if an off-site, delayed reading made double reading possib le.CONCLUSION. An off-site, double-reading delivery system for mammogr aphic screening services is preferred by many physicians for their pat ients once they are educated as to the benefits of double reading.